Click-to-run update crashes Windows!

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I return to my PC just now to find it sitting at the login screen, and when I open Reliability Monitor to see what happened, I find concurrent events – “Windows shut down unexpectedly” at 2:16 pm and below the line

“Windows Installer removed the product. Product Name: Office 16 Click-to-Run Licensing Component. Product Version: 16.0.18429.20132. Product Language: 0. Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation. Removal success or error status: 0.”

followed by several more C2R events about “re-configuring” and finally

“Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: Office 16 Click-to-Run Licensing Component. Product Version: 16.0.18429.20158. Product Language: 0. Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation. Installation success or error status: 0.”

all are timestamped at 2:16 or 2:17, so the inference is that one of the C2R actions crashed Windows!

I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to do that – is this a known problem? Is there a way to stop this in future?

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Well you can change the Office to semi annual so you don’t get updates for Office other than once a month.

I’ve not seen this reported before.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

1 user thanked author for this post.

peterb

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thanks Susan – is that setting controlled by a local policy?

 

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https://www.askwoody.com/2021/tasks-for-the-weekend-april-10-2021-change-your-office/

Follow that and holler if you need assistance.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Susan Bradley wrote:

Well you can change the Office to semi annual so you don’t get updates for Office other than once a month.

Hi Susan:

If I recall correctly, those instructions to switch to the semi-annual release channel are intended for Microsoft 365 and don’t work with “perpetual” editions of MS Office like peterb’s MS Office 2021 C2R suite.

FYI, I’ve never seen the type of error described by peterb with my MS Office 2019 C2R installation and don’t know what would cause it.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5487 * Firefox v135.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.25010.7 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.7.167-1.0.5160 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 C2R Version 2501 / Build 18429.20158

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A timely post, thanks – I was just about to start trying to do this!

I’ve said before on this site that I think my Precision 3431 is haunted – too many weird hiccups and crashes without apparent reason.

 

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peterb wrote:

I’ve said before on this site that I think my Precision 3431 is haunted – too many weird hiccups and crashes without apparent reason.

Hi peterb:

What is your Windows OS [if Win 10 or Win 11 open a Run dialog box (Windows key + R) and enter winver to find the version and OS build number]? If your OS is becoming unstable an in-place repair like the one described in Susan Bradley’s AskWoody KB article 6000015 – Repair install of Windows 10 22H2 might help. Instructions for Win 11 are posted in Brink’s ElevenForum tutorial Repair Install Windows 11 With an In-place Upgrade .  An in-place repair should not affect your user accounts, apps, and personal data but it’s always wise to back up any important data in your personal C:\Users\<yourusername>\ folder to an external backup drive before starting.

If most of your glitches are related to your MS Office 2021 C2R installation see Ed Tittel’s Aug 2024 Computer World article Five Steps to Repair Microsoft Office.  I’ve found an Online Repair from Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features (right-click your MS Office program and choose Modify | Online Repair as described in Step 3 of that article) can often fix odd glitches with perpetual editions of MS Office.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5487 * Firefox v135.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.25010.7 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.7.167-1.0.5160 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 C2R Version 2501 / Build 18429.20158

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lmacri – Windows is 22H2 (OS Build 19045.5371) which I notice is slightly different than yours, not sure why. The PC is a Dell Precision 3431 and it has a pretty checkered history – from new the Dell Support Assist tool and Dell Command Update would never run properly. Dell Support worked on it remotely and we spent days going back and forth with log captures etc – they even sent me a brand new SSD with a preloaded image. That didn’t work right either. I actually did a wipe and clean install of Windows and still couldn’t get everything to work properly. I’m summarizing because it was five years ago and I don’t remember all the nuances, but Support Assist and Command Update still don’t run. I also get these occasional process and OS crashes.

Basically I gave up and have used it since then as-is, and it does what I need it to do. It has been a huge disappointment though – this was my “big upgrade” from the Latitudes I had always used before, but it hasn’t lived up to my expectations.

I’ve run the usual chkdsk, DISM and sfc commands periodically and they all run fine, so there’s nothing obvious there. Running the Windows in-place repair makes me nervous – I was actually wondering about upgrading to Windows 11 (not that I want to) but I failed to get a copy of the version before 24H2 – missed it by that much!

BTW how do you insert your “signature” with the equipment list on your posts? Haven’t figure that out yet…

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peterb wrote:

Windows is 22H2 (OS Build 19045.5371) which I notice is slightly different than yours

Hi peterb:

Your Win 10 v22H2 OS Build 19045.5371 was installed by KB5049981 (the cumulative monthly update released January 14, 2025 with the January 2025 Patch Tuesday Updates). I’m on OS Build 19045.5487 because I’ve already installed the KB5051974 cumulative update that was released on February 11, 2025 with the February 2025 Patch Tuesday Updates.

peterb wrote:

BTW how do you insert your “signature” with the equipment list on your posts?

My “signature” is not added with a macro – it’s just a simple copy and paste of plain text. I use BBCodes to adjust the size, colour, etc. of the font (see geekdom’s Forum Alphabetical Order bbCode List for more information).

For example, if I paste the following at the bottom of a post …

[size=9][color=red]Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5487[/color][/size]

… my “signature” would look like this:

Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5487

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it crashed again overnight with the following error but no link to any other activity.

“The bugcheck was: 0x00000133 (0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000501, 0x0000000000000500, 0xfffff8043b2fb320)”

 

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peterb wrote:

t crashed again overnight with the following error but no link to any other activity.

Open any Office program (Word, Excel, etc.) and go to File | Account.

Assuming you have a retail edition of MS Office 2021 C2R, do you have the latest C2R Version 2501 / Build 18429.20158 (rel. 11-Feb 2025) listed in the Office 2021 release history at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-2021#retail-versions-of-office-2021?  If you choose Update Options | Update Now does it run a check for updates without crashing your computer?

From the MS Excel program of my MS Office 2019 C2R suite:

___________________________________

For now I’ll assume your latest Win 10 crash was not triggered by an automatic background MS Office update since you said it had “no link to any other activity“. Post back if that isn’t correct.

Your BSODs were discussed in some detail in Susan Bradley’s 10-Jan-2025 Diagnosing an Issue where you reported an analysis of your mini-dump files with Nirsoft’s BlueScreenView was pointing to ntoskrnl.exe.

If you don’t want to try an in-place repair of your Win 10 OS as described in Susan Bradley’s AskWoody KB article 6000015 – Repair Install of Windows 10 22H2 (also see the video in Brink’s TenForum’s tutorial How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 With an In-place Upgrade) then I’d advise you post in BleepingComputer’s free Windows Crashes and Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Help and Support board and ask for a proper analysis of your full dump files with Windows Debugger (WinDbg) as I already suggested back in January 2025 in post # 2736658 of Susan’s topic.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5487 * Firefox v135.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.25010.7 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.7.167-1.0.5160 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 C2R Version 2501 / Build 18429.20158

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lmacri – I ran the update check and it did not crash the PC when it did the update. It’s version is now as follows: (I don’t know how to paste an image into these reply pages)

Microsoft® Excel® 2021 MSO (Version 2502 Build 16.0.18526.20144) 64-bit

Your point about posting the crash dump is well taken – I’ll look into doing that and see what they find.

thank you!!

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peterb wrote:

I ran the update check and it did not crash the PC when it did the update. It’s version is now as follows … Microsoft® Excel® 2021 MSO (Version 2502 Build 16.0.18526.20144) 64-bit

Hi peterb:

I can’t find any information for Version 2502 Build 16.0.18526.20144 so I’ll assume the update you received via your manual update hasn’t been officially posted yet in the Current Channel release notes for MS Office C2R at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/current-channel. That does happen on occasion, however, if you run a manual update a day or two before the latest available stable version on Microsoft’s download server goes into wide release and is automatically pushed out to the general public.

My first thought was that you had inadvertently opted in to receive Current Channel (Preview) builds but Version 2502 Build 16.0.18526.20144 isn’t listed at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-current-channel-preview, so I don’t believe the version you received today is a Preview (BETA) build.

ASIDE: In future when reporting your MS Office version please use the version and build number as shown in my post # 2752797 (e.g., displayed NEXT to the About Excel button). If you go to File | Account and click the About Excel button the MS Office (MSO) version number does not always match the “correct” version shown at Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features. I have no idea why Microsoft does this but see my 24-Jun-2020 post # 2274964 of Noel Carboni’s Debilitating “Outlook needs to close” bug linked to a likely bad Windows cumulative update for more information about these occasional version mismatches.

peterb wrote:

I don’t know how to paste an image into these reply pages

To attach an image to your post use the Select File button below the WYSIWYG Editor where you compose your reply and browse to the image (e.g., .png or .jpg file) on your hard drive. NOTE: Attached images can only be viewed by users when they are logged in to the AskWoody forum.

If you want to insert (embed) the picture in your post then click your cursor inside the reply you are composing where you want to insert the attached image and choose Insert into content.

———–
Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5487 * Firefox v135.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.25010.7 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.7.167-1.0.5160 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 C2R Version 2501 / Build 18429.20158

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lmacri wrote:

I can’t find any information for Version 2502 Build 16.0.18526.20144 so I’ll assume the update you received via your manual update hasn’t been officially posted yet in the Current Channel release notes…

Hi peterb:

Just confirming that the release history for the retail version of Office 2021 C2R at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-2021#retail-versions-of-office-2021 has been updated to reflect that Version 2502 / Build 18526.20144 is now in wide release as of 05-Mar-2025.

The Current Channel release notes for MS 365/Office C2R at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/current-channel have also been updated.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5487 * Firefox v136.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v 4.18.25010.11-1.1.25010.7 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.7.167-1.0.5160 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 C2R Version 2502 / Build 18526.20144 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.4.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0 * Fusion Service 2.2.14.0

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It is typical for Click-to-run update to crash Windows. Many people have report this before.

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Boy not in my experience.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Nor in mine either. I’ve never seen a C2R of Office update crash Windows.

--Joe

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peterb wrote:

Windows is 22H2 (OS Build 19045.5371) which I notice is slightly different than yours, not sure why.

Hi peterb:

One other thought. Further to Susan Bradley’s 03-Mar-2025 article To reboot, or not to reboot in this week’s ISSUE 22.09 of the AskWoody Plus newsletter, how often do you do a full restart *** of your computer? Assuming you haven’t deliberately paused Windows Update to prevent installation of your February 2025 Patch Tuesday updates, if you enter winver again in a Run dialog box (Windows key + R) does it show that your Win 10 v22H2 OS has now been updated to the latest OS Build 19045.5487 released on 11-Feb-2025?

*** NOTE: If you do not power off your computer on a regular basis, the Microsoft support article Restart (reboot) your PC suggests you go to Start, select the Power button, and then select Restart to perform a “proper” restart of your system.

peterb wrote:

The PC is a Dell Precision 3431 and it has a pretty checkered history …Support Assist and Command Update still don’t run. I also get these occasional process and OS crashes.

The Dell SupportAssist for PCs board is full of posts from users who have not been able run SupportAssist since v4.0.x started rolling out in Feb 2024, and my 02-Jan-2025 post in WjSturgis’ Support Assist will not run notes that the latest v4.6.3 has at least one major bug that still hasn’t been fixed. I removed all SupportAssist-related software from my Inspiron 5584 after my Dell service warranty expired because they were too buggy and used too much RAM and CPU – see my 08-Feb-2025 post in ygil’s BSOD issues after Windows Updates for details on how I replaced the functionality of these uninstalled SupportAssist-related programs. If SupportAssist v4.x isn’t running correctly on your system and you haven’t already done so I’d suggest you uninstall this buggy software so it doesn’t attempt to automatically start at every reboot.

If the Dell Command | Update v5.4.0 app listed <here> on your Precision 3431 support page still doesn’t launch correctly after SupportAssist v4.x is uninstalled you might find some helpful information in my 31-Dec-2024 post in coppenheim’s Dell Command Update.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5487 * Firefox v135.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.25010.7 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.7.167-1.0.5160 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 C2R Version 2501 / Build 18429.20158 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.4.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0 * Fusion Service 2.2.14.0

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lmacri wrote:

how often do you do a full restart of your computer?

Hi peterb:

… and further to my post # 2752975, if you haven’t already done so I’d also suggest you disable Fast Startup as instructed in Option # 1 of Brink’s TenForums tutorial How to Turn On or Off Fast Startup and then re-boot a few times to ensure the setting change takes effect.

The Fast Startup power option (also known as hybrid boot-up / hybrid shutdown) is enabled by default in Win 10 and Win 11 but it can sometimes interfere with the loading and initialization of drivers and services at boot-up and cause all sorts of unexpected glitches and problems with a variety of software programs. If you have disabled Fast Startup in the past just make sure it’s still turned off since Windows Updates can occasionally re-enable this setting.
———–
Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5487 * Firefox v135.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.25010.7 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.7.167-1.0.5160 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 C2R Version 2501 / Build 18429.20158 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.4.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0 * Fusion Service 2.2.14.0

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Hi lmacri – thanks for the suggestion – I had turned it off a while back and it’s still off.

 

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lmacri – thanks for the multiple suggestions!

So, yes, I do reboot the PC from time to time, and it has been done recently. As to the version, I  have not yet installed the latest updates although they’re ready to go, so I’m at 19045.5371.

I read through the other links about Support Assist and followed the Dell Support official process to eliminate it, and it is completely gone, as is Command Update. It’s interesting because I also see that the “Dell.CoreServices.Client.exe” process crashes from time to time, and that Dell article gave the cause as a failed uninstall of Support Assist! I’ll see if that returns.

Next I will follow through the process to package and upload my dump file for analysis to see if they can find the system crash cause. As far as I know, I’ve installed all the outstanding drivers but there may be one still to do. I’ll post the outcome when it’s done.

thanks for sticking with me on this!!

 

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Hi lmacri – I was able to get assistance with the dumps and they pointed to a dll that’s part of Norton. That was an easy fix as I have intended to get rid of Norton for some time, but was just running out my subscription. I uninstalled it using the tool (*) from their site, and a number of positive things happened – the system seems significantly faster and more responsive, my external Thunderbolt 3 RAID drive no longer makes a disturbing “zinging” noise like repeated full-range seeks, and the PC fan no longer goes into hyperdrive when something’s being copied. I have the Defender/Malwarebytes Free combo in place to protect the PC.

(*) I had seen some comments in these forums that the Norton uninstall tool still leaves some traces but couldn’t access the hidden folder to check, and couldn’t remember on the spur of the moment how to take ownership.

I had also run the memory diag previously and it found no errors. I’ll continue to monitor whether there any further crashes but I’m hopeful that it’s gone.

Thanks again!

 

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peterb wrote:

I was able to get assistance with the dumps and they pointed to a dll that’s part of Norton. That was an easy fix as I have intended to get rid of Norton for some time …

Hi peterb:

Just checking in. Have you had any more BSODs since uninstalling Norton 360?

peterb wrote:

I had seen some comments in these forums that the Norton uninstall tool still leaves some traces but couldn’t access the hidden folder to check …

I haven’t used Norton for a few years, but based on my personal experience the Norton Remove and Reinstall (NRnR) tool did a decent job of removing Norton from my system as long as I used the advanced “Remove Only” option as instructed in the Norton support article Uninstall Your Norton Device Security Product on Windows. The NRnR tool did leave behind a few stray files in the hidden C:\ProgramData\Norton folder and/or registry entries in the Windows registry (e.g., like the registry value that stored my product key so Norton was automatically reactivated after a clean reinstall) but nothing that should interfere with other antivirus programs if you switch to a different AV.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5608 * Firefox v136.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.25010.11-1.1.25020.1007 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.8.173-128.0.5184 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 C2R Version 2502 / Build 18526.20168 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.4.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0 * Fusion Service 2.2.14.0

1 user thanked author for this post.

satrow

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Hi lmacri – I very pleased to report that the PC has been humming along without a problem since I removed Norton. I’ll follow up on the removal tool just to make sure, but what, if anything, is left behind doesn’t seem to be causing an issue. MS Defender and MWB Free seem to be doing the job just fine!

1 user thanked author for this post.

lmacri

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